A Skin So Soft

Ta peau si lisse

It is easy to ridicule bodybuilders and picture them as brute barbarians
whose sole concern is the size and symmetry of their musculature. But
Denis Côté in his latest motion picture chose to portray them rather as
gentle creatures each of whom must have been brought to their hobby by
something, although we may never discover what it was. Côté follows six
bodybuilders and, as one would expect, he depicts them as if everything
revolved around the carnal desire for the perfection of their flesh, as if
they lacked any other purpose in life. We don’t know what they have been
through or what they do for a living, and we realise that there is more to
their stories that remains unaddressed – for instance when we see one of
them weeping. Nevertheless, Côté’s portrayal brings a civil dimension to his
characters’ fascination.

Year:

2017

Runtime:

93

Country:

Canada

Director:

Denis Côté

Screenplay:

Denis Côté

Dir. of Photography:

François Messier-Rheault

Editor:

Nicolas Roy

Production:

Art & essai, Close Up Films, The Addiction

Sales:

Films Boutique

Festivals:

Locarno 2017, Nowe horyzonty 2017, Toronto 2017, London 2017

Schedule:

11.11.201715:30Kino Lumière (K2)(followed by masterclass)

About the Director:

Denis Côté

Denis Côté (1973, Perth-Andover, New Brunswick, Canada) has made ten feature-length films, both fiction and documentary, since his debut in 2005. He is a darling particularly at the IFF in Locarno, which has screened five of his films and two of them – All That She Wants (2008) and Curling (2010) – were decorated for best directing. Four of his other films have been presented at Berlinale, including Vic and Flo Saw a Bear, which won the Alfred Bauer Award in 2013 for a “feature film that opens new perspectives on cinematic art”. His latest film so far, A Skin So Soft, premiered this year at Locarno.